Explosive-filled, fragmentation shells that disperse fragments on their own detonation have conventionally been designed and dimensioned so that they disperse fragments all around, that is to say in all directions. In outright war situations this is generally a distinct advantage rather than a disadvantage.
Global developments have nevertheless led to the ever more legitimate deployment, primarily under UN control, of military and police formations in operations intended to avert outright conflict at various flashpoints, where the Swedish armed forces anticipate being able to fulfill a role, and indeed in several instances are already fulfilling a role. The opponents that may be encountered during such conflict-averting operations may and have already proved to be equipped, even with heavy weapons such as tanks and artillery. This has meant that the formations under UN control must also have access to heavy weapons, the deployment of which must not be impeded by any innocent civilians who undeservedly find themselves in the wrong place from the point of view of peacekeeping soldiers. There is also a problem of damage to civilian property when fighting a hostile force in a civilian environment.
It must always be possible to engage a hostile target, perceived to be a threat by the peacekeeping troops, even if, civilians should undeservedly find themselves between heavy weapons of the peacekeeping troops and the hostile target. Being compelled by the presence of any civilians in the area to refrain from using fragmentation shells during tight situations in peacekeeping operations means giving the opposing side undue advantages.
The desire in these types of operation is therefore for access to fragmentation shells having a frontal impact and a lateral impact well-suited to the intended purpose but entirely devoid of rearward impact in relation to the direction of flight, that is to say a shell which disperses fragments in a forward direction and obliquely forwards towards the intended target and more or less laterally to the direction of flight of the fragmentation shell, but definitely not rearwards in relation to the direction of flight. Explosive-filled, fragmentation shells that disperse fragments on the detonation of their own explosive charge having these specific characteristics have here been called MCD (Minimum Collateral Damage) shells. Even in outright war situations the MCD shell may be a valuable addition to the rest of the arsenal in close combat, such as when fighting in an urban environment. The MCD shells can be allowed to have a very short arming distance, since they do not disperse fragments towards the firing weapon and can therefore also be used against very close targets and close to friendly forces at longer ranges.